And blood was ready to be broached,
When Hudibras in haste approached,
With squire and weapons to attack 'em ;
But first thus from his horse bespake 'em.
'What rage, O citizens! what fury
Doth you to these dire actions hurry?*
What œstrum,† what phrenetic mood
Makes you thus lavish of your blood,
While the proud Vies your trophies boast,
And, unrevenged, walks ghost?+

What towns, what garrisons might you,
With hazard of this blood, subdue,
Which now y' are bent to throw away
In vain, untriumphable fray ?$

Shall saints in civil bloodshed wallow
Of saints, and let the Cause lie fallow?
The Cause, for which we fought and swore
So boldly, shall we now give o'er?
Then because quarrels still are seen
With oaths and swearings to begin,
The solemn league and covenant
Will seem a mere God-damme rant,
And we that took it, and have fought,
As lewd as drunkards that fall out:
For as we make war for the king
Against himself,|| the self-same thing

* Quis furor, O Cives, quæ tanta licentia ferri,
Gentibus invisis Latinum præbere cruorem? &c.
LUCAN.-Pharsalia, i.

† Estrum is not only a Greek word for madness, but signifies also a gad-bee or horse-fly, that torments cattle in the summer, and makes them run about as if they were mad.-G.

The blank should be filled up with the name of Waller. The person indicated is Sir William Waller, who, after his defeat at Devizes, lost his prestige amongst the parliamentary generals, and became but the ghost, or shadow, of what he had been before. Devizes was called De Vies, or the Vies. Others, says Dr. Nash, fill up the blank with the name of Hampden, who was killed on Chalgrove-field about the time of Waller's defeat.

§ Alluding to the Roman usage of refusing an ovation, or triumph, to the conqueror in a civil war.

They not only declared,' says Clarendon, that they fought for

we do

Some will not stick to swear,
For God, and for religion too;
For if bear-baiting we allow,
What good can reformation do?
The blood and treasure that's laid out
Is thrown away, and goes for nought.
Are these the fruits o' th' protestation,

The prototype of reformation,

Which all the saints, and some, since martyrs,
Wore in their hats like wedding garters,*
When 'twas resolvèd by their house
Six members' quarrel to espouse?†
Did they for this draw down the rabble,
With zeal, and noises formidable;
And make all cries about the town
Join throats to cry the bishops down?
Who having round begirt the palace,
As once a month they do the gallows,
As members gave the sign about,
Set up their throats with hideous shout.
When tinkers bawled aloud, to settle
Church-discipline, for patching kettle.
No sow-gelder did blow his horn

To geld a cat, but cried Reform.

the king, but that the raising and maintaining soldiers for their own army would be an acceptable service for the King, parliament, and kingdom.'

*The Protestation was adopted by the Commons, printed and circulated in May, 1641; and the people in London carried it about on the points of their spears. In the following December, when a tumultuous multitude went down to Westminster to demand justice on the Earl of Strafford, they rolled up the protestation, or a paper intended to represent it, and carried it in their hats instead of feathers; an example which was subsequently followed in different parts of the country.

+ Lord Kimbolton, Pym, Hollis, Hampden, Sir Arthur Haselrig, and Stroud. They were implicated in the tumults raised by the Scots, and the king ordered them to be apprehended, and, finding that the Commons voted against their arrest, he went in person with his guards to seize them, but, having warning of his intention, they effected their escape.

That is, instead of.

The oyster-women locked their fish up,
And trudged away to cry No Bishop;
The mouse-trap men laid save-alls by,
And 'gainst ev'l counsellors did cry;
Botcher's left old clothes in the lurch,
And fell to turn and patch the church;
Some cried the covenant, instead
Of pudding-pies and ginger-bread;

And some for brooms, old boots, and shoes,
Bawled out to purge the Commons house:
Instead of kitchen-stuff, some cry

A gospel-preaching ministry;

And some for old suits, coats, or cloak,
No surplices nor service-book:
A strange harmonious inclination
Of all degrees to reformation.
And is this all? Is this the end
To which these carr'ings on did tend?
Hath public faith, like a young heir,
For this tak'n up all sorts of ware,
And run int' every tradesman's book,
Till both turn bankrupts, and are broke?*
Did saints for this bring in their plate,t
And crowd, as if they came too late?

For when they thought the Cause had need on't,
Happy was he that could be rid on't.

Did they coin piss-pots, bowls, and flagons,
Int' officers of horse and dragoons;
And into pikes and musqueteers
Stamp beakers, cups, and porringers?
A thimble, bodkin, and a spoon,
Did start up living men, as soon

*The parliament took up money, provisions, and goods from all classes of tradesmen upon the public faith, promising to pay 8 per cent. interest.

† Large quantities of plate were brought in, both to the service of the parliament and the king, to be melted down, and coined for the payment of the soldiers.

*

As in the furnace they were thrown,
Just like the dragon's teeth b'ing sown."
Then was the Cause all gold and plate,
The brethren's offerings, consecrate,
Like th' Hebrew calf, and down before it
The saints fell prostrate, to adore it.†
So say the wicked-and will you
Make that sarcasmus+ scandal true,
By running after dogs and bears,

Beasts more unclean than calves or steers?
Have powerful preachers plied their tongues,
And laid themselves out, and their lungs;
Used all means, both direct and sin'ster,
I' th' pow'r of gospel-preaching min'ster?§
Have they invented tones, to win
The women, and make them draw in
The men, as Indians with a female
Tame elephant inveigle the male?||

Have they told Prov'dence what it must do,
Whom to avoid, and whom to trust to:
Discovered th' Enemy's design,

And which way best to countermine;
Prescribed what ways he hath to work,
Or it will ne'er advance the kirk?
Told it the news o' th' last express, T
And after good or bad success

* Ovid, Metamorp. iii.

Converted into an adjective.

† Exodus xxxii.

§ The people were constantly exhorted from the pulpits, by Calamy, Case, and the most eminent of the preachers, to contribute liberally to the wants of the Parliament.

|| Alluding to the method of taking wild elephants by anointing a tame female elephant with a peculiar ointment which draws the wild elephant after her into an enclosure, where he is immediately taken.

It was not unusual to mix up allusions to the current incidents of the Civil War in the extemporaneous prayers, thus directly invoking divine favour in reference to passing events. Sometimes, as touched upon in the succeeding lines, this familiar mode of addressing Heaven was carried so far as to contain language of remonstrance at once ludicrous and irreverent.

Made prayers, not so like petitions,
As overtures and propositions,
Such as the army did present
To their creator, the parliament;
In which they freely will confess,
They will not, cannot acquiesce,
Unless the work be carried on
In the same way they have begun,
By setting church and common-weal
All on a flame, bright as their zeal,
On which the saints were all a-gog,
And all this for a bear and dog?
The parliament drew up petitions
To 'tself, and sent them, like commissions,
To well-affected persons, down

In every city and great town,
With power to levy horse and men,
Only to bring them back again?*
For this did many, many a mile,
Ride manfully in rank and file,
With papers in their hats, that showed
As if they to the pill❜ry rode!
Have all these courses, these efforts,
Been tried by people of all sorts,
Velis et remis, omnibus nervis,†
And all t' advance the cause's service,
And shall all now be thrown away
In petulant intestine fray?

Shall we, that in the cov'nant swore
Each man of us to run before

*When ver it was desired to press forward any particular measure, some active members of the house would prepare a petition, and send it down into the country to their adherents to get it signed by the people. Lord Clarendon says that when a multitude of hands were procured, the petition itself was cut off, and a new one framed agreeable to the design in hand, and annexed to the list of names subscribed to the former; so that many men found their names subscribed to petitions they had never heard of before.'

+ With all their might.